


The House at The Edge of the Village

by madain_sari



Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: Gen, Shang being a good parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26436514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madain_sari/pseuds/madain_sari
Summary: A peek on Shang and Mulan's household ten years on.
Relationships: Fa Mulan | Hua Mulan/Li Shang (Disney)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 101





	The House at The Edge of the Village

There was that compound at the edge of the village. There was always a pot of tea in the kitchen. The inhabitants were also a number of multigenerational family members. They kept chickens, fruit trees and farmed rice. They ate seasonally and they pickled their own vegetables and preserved meat, like many other households but that was when the similarity ended. 

On this particular day, Li Shang returned home on horseback just to see his little boy Li Hong Jin pouting at the foyer. He looked at his mother in law and made asking gestures. Fa Li shook her head in confusion. 

"Hong Jin, " he greeted "Have you been a good boy while I was gone?"

The boy's frown deepened. 

It was one of those days apparently. "Where's your mother?" 

The boy shook his head violently. 

"Mulan's gone to the Yue's with Hong Lie," Fa Li supplied. 

"What happened?"

Hong Jin stamped his feet really hard and tears started on his eyes. 

Oh. Kid troubles. Shang hated that. 

"Shall I help you unpack?" offered Fa Li. 

"Oh, I can do it myself-" 

"I'll help," another voiced piped in. It was his mother coming from inside the house. 

"Thank you mother,"

"Why don't you and Hong Jin head to the kitchen? We just finished steaming sweet red bean buns," his mother added. 

"You hear that Hong Jin? Nai nai and Po po made dou sha bao today. "

Still pouting, and unmoving. 

"Fine, I'll eat it my-" Before he can finish the sentence the boy latched on his legs and did not let go. Shang sighed. He was getting too old for this but judging from his previous experiences if he scolded Hong Jin harshly, the boy will take even longer to finish this kind of mood. 

"Baba is getting too old for this Hong Jin, can you walk with me instead?" Hong Jin released his legs and walked behind him sulkily.

When they got to the kitchen, there were indeed a stack of dou sha bao and of course, a pot of hot steaming tea. He took one bun each and poured tea for both of them.

"What happened?"

"nottin'"

"Well if it's nothing let's enjoy this bun," he said opening his mouth. 

"IgotbulliedbyTangMinbutHongLie-Jiejiepunchedhimformeandnoweveryonecallsmesissy," Tears started flowing on his cheeks. 

Shang sighed. It wasn't like he had a lot of friends either when he was a child so this was out of his depth. 

"WhydoyouguyseventeachHongLiekungfushesagirlandgirlsdontneedthat,"

"So what was the reason why Tang Min bullied you?"

"He told me Mom is a freak and a terrible woman and she bewitched you so that you married her."

Well. That hadn't been an issue for awhile. Looked like the village had nothing better to chew on these days. The harvest festival was weeks ago and they were preparing for winter.

"So what did you do?"  
"I punched him. But then he called his friends over, then Hong Lie-Jiejie came over and pummeled everyone but they still made fun of me." 

Shang nodded. He took a deep breath. "So you're angry because you lost or because Hong Lie defended you... or?"

"I don't know! Why is our family so weird? Why can't Ma ma be some normal lady you met at a matchmaking thing and Hong Lie-Jiejie doesn't have to know kung fu?" Somehow uttering those words made him more emotional and tears kept coming down his cheeks. "Why can't she move to the Capital with you instead of you moving here?"

"Is that something people say?"

"They think Ma ma bewitched you to move here."

Wow, people in rural areas really have nothing better to do huh, Shang thought sardonically. He took a sip of his tea before asking, 

"So you don't like Ma ma or Hong Lie?"

"No! Ma ma is nice! Hong Lie is fun!" 

"So you want to move to Ye ye's old house in the capital?"

"Yeye's house is too small!" 

"Fair enough." said Shang, biting his bun. Living in the capital meant living cheek to cheek with other people and you couldn't just have that space. Coming back to his father's house (now inhabited by his little brother) Shang was sometimes struck with how tiny it was compared to his in law's house. 

He finished chewing, "You just don't like being made fun of like that,"

Finally, Hong Jin nodded vigorously. This was really out of his depth. The kids at the school in the capital never made fun of him because he is the son of General Li and if anything everyone wanted to be his friend because of his father's 'advantageous' connections. If he had learned anything from living in this village for a while, it would probably be a cyclical thing, especially because his wife was both famous and infamous for doing some things very right and some things very wrong. 

"First off, we moved here because Nai Nai has a bad back and the capital gets very cold and she's prone to getting sick when she lived there." 

"But Nai Nai is so lively and she's all let me cook this, let me do that, I'll cook that here," 

"That was only possible after we moved here," Shang emphasized. "If we move back, Nai Nai will probably be in bed most days." He picked up his second bun. 

"Secondly, if we moved to the capital you wouldn't get to see Po po, Lao Ye and Wai Gong often,"

"No!" exclaimed Hong Jin, horrified. "Wai Gong is the best!" And honestly, Shang could not credit Fa Zhou enough because he really was clueless at this parenting thing. Fa Zhou was really patient and wonderful. Even the elder Fa matriarch who slightly terrified him were very good for the kids. 

"Thirdly, if I hadn't met your mother, you wouldn't have been born, so if I were to marry a 'regular woman' as you say, there would be no Hong Jin," 

"Oh." 

"Plus you wouldn't have been able to have Hong Lie as your sister." 

"I don't want that," Hong Jin said in between bites. 

"I agree." 

"Why do you guys teach her kung fu anyway? I thought that was supposed to be unladylike?"

"You never seemed to care that your mother knows kung fu?" 

"That's 'cos she's a hero." Hong Jin said sniffily, "Heroes get exceptions."

Shang inwardly laughed at his child's logic. "She wasn't a hero before the war though."

Hong Jin stared at him wide eyed. "She wasn't?"

"Hero or not, the world can be a very dangerous place and we want you both to be prepared for it," Shang explained. 

"Is that why I'm also being taught how to cook and sew?"

Shang bit into another bun, "Trust me, you wouldn't think it's a valuable skill..." his mind flashbacked to the time when the army cook fell ill and when holes were starting to appear in his army's uniforms , "But it is." Mulan and Chien Po had been helpful throughout but it was a horrible experience. 

Hong Jin shifted on his seat. "I know...I just..." He doubled down on chewing. 

Shang nodded, "I understand, there's no easy solutions to this sadly." He should know, he's been married to Mulan and lived in this village for more than ten years, (with occasional trips to the capital) and despite of his wife's action in the last war, his sterling reputation, his father in law's war hero status, somehow they still want to dredge up the time Mulan burned the local matchmaker and disguising herself like a man. 

"What about you, Baba, you're married to her?"

"Hm?"

"Don't you care about what people say?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Wh-how? Doesn't it make you angry?"

"Of course. But people aren't privy to what your mother and I experienced together. And they can't take away what we have experienced together. "

"Mmm, I guess."

"What about you, do you think these boys know what your mother is really like?"

Hong Jin considered this for a bit. "No?"

"Do you really think your mother, who has burned rice more often than we could count and can never lie to us was able to bewitch me, or you?"

"Probably not..."

"There you go."

"But...I want them to stop. But they won't."

"Listen son, your life in this village is just going to be one small part of your life. You've gone and visited the capital, and you're still a child. You're going to grow up. You might stay here or you might move elsewhere. There might be a war, there might not be, though, I wish there would not be one. These people wasn't there when your mother impressed me with her skills, and my point is, though it feels painful now, it won't be forever or the only thing in your life." 

Hong Jin stared at him. "It won't?" 

"Exactly." 

"It still sucks though."

"It does." Shang finally sipped his cup of tea. 

Mulan came in the kitchen by that time. "Hello boys," 

"Ma ma!" Hong Jin shouted and he latched on her hip immediately. 

She looked at with a raised eyebrow. 

"We had a chat," Shang explained. "Boys stuff." 

Hong Jin nodded vigorously while still latching on Mulan's hips. 

"Oh. Glad to hear that," she said, confused. 

"What about you and Hong Lie?"

"Oh, the Yue daughters and mum wanted to learn kung fu on the sly?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, growing girls, leering men, what did Mrs. Yue say, it'd be a nice kick on their bums, so to speak."

Shang gave Hong Jin a meaningful look. Hong Jin's eye brightened a little.

"Did they still bring up the fire at the matchmaker's?"

"Of course. At this point I swear it's now a legend. Girls come up to me all the time and say if I had done all of that and still find a good husband, there's still hope for them. " 

Shang chuckled, "It does sound pretty epic. I wish I had known you back then, "

Mulan rolled her eyes and tried to grab a sweet red bean bun but was blocked Hong Jin who held to her too tight. 

"Ma ma is getting too old for this Hong Jin," 

There was that compound at the edge of the village. Three war heroes lived there, there was always something cooking in the kitchen. It was filled with laughter, it was filled joy, but most importantly it was a home

**Author's Note:**

> I found out that the new Mulan remake was released and it hurt my soul so I binged Mulan on AO3 and Ff. net and produced this to soothe my soul. I had 5 other WIPs but somehow I finished this way faster than any of the others


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